I travelled to Halifax this past weekend with my wife and a couple of friends to see game two of the Finals. This was my third time in Halifax in the past three years, but my first Thunderbirds game there. Seeing a game there became a bucket-list thing for me not long after the team arrived there; the atmosphere inside the Nest always looked really exciting and loud, so I was looking forward to seeing just how exciting and loud it could be. I’ve heard many people say that the experience in the Nest was really great, and even “unmatched” in the NLL, but most of those people worked for the T-Birds, played for the T-Birds, or were fans of the T-Birds. I’m none of those three, so let me give you my unbiased opinion: all of those people were absolutely right.

I can’t honestly say the experience is unmatched anywhere else in the NLL because I haven’t been to most arenas. In particular, I think I’d have to see games in at least Calgary, Colorado, and Vancouver before saying that. But I have been to a game in Las Vegas (at Michelob, not Lee’s), two or three in Rochester, Banditland several times, and of course the vast majority of Rock home games (in Toronto, Mississauga, and Hamilton) since 2001. Bandits fans in particular are known for being loud, knowledgeable, and loving their team. Thunderbirds fans are also loud, knowledgeable, and love their team. But even if the place is sold out, there are half as many of them at a game as there are at a Bandits game, and they’re at least equally loud. And even ignoring the outcome, I had as much fun at that game as any I’ve been to in any arena.

In Hamilton, each Rock player has his own goal song that gets played when they score. In Halifax, the same goal song is played when any Thunderbird player scores, and most of the crowd sings along. Bandits fans have their special cheers, like “B-O-X” for opposing team penalties. Hamilton fans yell “Rooooosey!” when Nick Rose makes a save. After a Warren Hill save in Halifax the PA guy shouts “King of the…” and the fans all yell “HILL!”

But there’s a problem with this “data”. I have never been to Buffalo for a Finals game, so comparing a finals game in Halifax with a regular season game in Buffalo doesn’t seem fair. I saw the Knighthawks win the 2014 Championship in Rochester, and fans there were pretty darn loud. And I’ve seen Rock Championships in Toronto in 2005 and 2011, and fans there were really loud as well. The 2005 Championship game in Toronto had the highest attendance of any game in NLL history at 19,432. But it’s been 21 years since that game and 12 years since the Knighthawks Championship I went to, so it’s very possible it’s the recency bias talking when I say that Halifax was as loud as any of them. But it was pretty damn loud.

Some parts of the experience were the same as anywhere else – fans chanting “ref you suck” after penalty calls they disagreed with was something I recognized from Hamilton and elsewhere. There were fans with signs saying it was their first game or their birthday or just saying “Go Thunderbirds”. One that I particularly enjoyed said “The only rock we like is at Peggy’s Cove”.

There were only a couple of drawbacks, and they were pretty minor. The rows of seats are quite close together, so we didn’t have a lot of legroom. We got lucky because the seat next to me was empty, so I could turn to my right a little and give my wife a bit more space. There is a very loud cannon that fires after every Thunderbirds goal, so that startled me a bit on the first few goals though I quickly got used to it. And the crowd was loud enough that I couldn’t hear some of the goal or penalty calls. In particular, the Rock goal calls were very quiet and we had no chance of hearing those.

While walking around Halifax before the game, we saw lots of Thunderbirds jerseys and shirts (as well as a few Rock ones), and when cab drivers or wait staff at restaurants asked what we were doing in Halifax, most of them knew what we were talking about when we said we were there for the lacrosse game. Not everyone knew it was the Championship series or that Toronto was the opposing team, but some did. But just about all of them had at least heard of the team and knew it was a thing. Let me tell you that as someone from Hamilton, I was really not used to that. One waitress at an Irish pub near the arena said she loved going to Thunderbirds games and that it was way better than hockey. She also said that she didn’t like working on game nights because it meant she couldn’t go to the game but also because it got insanely busy after the game.

As for Halifax itself, it’s among my favourite cities in the world, right up there with Venice, Edinburgh, and Vancouver. I got a comment on X from someone who said that there was absolutely nothing to do there, which just means he has either never been there or didn’t look too hard to find things to do. On this trip we did a tour of the Alexander Keith’s brewery, my wife did a pewter jewellery class, we went to Peggy’s Cove, walked around both the Public Gardens and Point Pleasant Park, walked the length of the boardwalk a few times, and ate at at least three different places along the boardwalk. And we were only there about 2½ days. If we’d had more time, we’d have toured the Citadel, the Museum of Immigration, the Marine Museum, and gone to both Lunenburg and Dartmouth as well, all of which I’ve done in the past.

And I’m sure I can’t say this about every weekend throughout the year, but we couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was low-mid 20’s (low-mid 70’s Farenheit) and sunny all weekend.

If you get the chance to go to Halifax, I recommend it. And if you can do it at a time of year where a Thunderbirds game is a possibility, even if it’s not in the Finals, I’d recommend that too.